KOZHIKODE
DEC. 23.
The CPI(Marxist Leninist) Red Flag leader, P.C. Unnichekkan, has alleged that the attempts by the faction led by K.N. Ramachandran to take the party back to the past ``wrong and divisive stance'' had triggered a crisis in the party (which eventually led to a split).

Talking to presspersons here today, Mr. Unnichekkan alleged that Mr. Ramchandran, in a arbitrary move, decided to participate in the ensuing World Social Forum (WSF) in Mumbai and thus deviated from the party's stance that such forums should be resisted and exposed.

``Mr. Ramchandran took an arbitrary decision to merge the party with some Marxist-Leninist groups like the one led by Kanu Sanyal even when the party had no agreement with the political and ideological stances of the latter. Mr. Ramachandran had employed anti-democratic and anti-party manoeuvres for personal gains,'' he said.

Mr. Unnichekkan said that Mr. Ramachandran, sensing he had ``lost majority'' in the party as the sixth all-India conference progressed, dismissed the Central executive committee and then organised a parallel State conference to ``sabotage'' the all-India conference. ``Mr. Ramachandran had refused to call a meeting of the Central committee even when half the number of members called for such a meeting,'' Mr. Unnichekkan.

He said that his group had organised an all-India conference at the Nayanthahalli Nityananda Dhana Mandiram in Bangalore on December 20 and 21.

The conference elected M.S. Jayakumar as secretary, and Ayyappa Hughar and K. Chandrasekhar (Karnataka), L. Govindaswami (Tamil Nadu), and M.M. Somasekharan, P.C. Unnichekkan and P.J. Baby as new members of the Central committee. They claimed that six members of the former Central committee had participated in the national conference.

Mr. Jayakumar, Mr. Somasekharan, and Mr. Kunhikannan were among those who were present at the press conference.